The Air Force Academy Board of Visitors recently met at the
academy for its quarterly meeting.

The board received updates and reports about the academy on Feb.
4 and 5. One of the reports was the USAFA Diversity Plan.

In December, Dr. Adis M. Vila was appointed chief diversity
officer. It is the first time the academy has had a chief diversity
officer. Gen. John Regni, superintendent from October 2005 to June
2009, decided there was a need for a diversity plan. The diversity
plan is in direct support of diversity objectives contained within
the USAFA Strategic Plan and the USAFA Mission Elements Strategic
Plan.

Vila presented to the board of visitors the outline of the
vision or goals, road map or steps, and the next steps of the plan
for the academy.

“We want to create an inclusive culture,” Vila said. “We have to
get diversity right.”

Vila’s role is to promote the academy’s goals of a diverse
workforce and cadet wing by visibly providing strong leadership and
commitment to diversity, broadening outreach and recruitment,
strengthening institutional diversity infrastructures, developing
and implementing a strategic diversity plan, cultivating diversity
awareness, and monitoring the success.

One of the steps is to integrate inclusiveness in all programs,
events and activities at the school.

“Inclusiveness is about embracing diversity among us,” Vila
said.

Vila said diversity does not only include gender, ethnicity or
religion. There are other diverse areas to include that the academy
will be working on.

In a separate interview with the Tribune, Vila said she will be
meeting with the mission elements to talk about how they integrate
diversity into what they do every day. They include the faculty,
cadets, athletics and the wing.

For example, Vila said if they were to prepare cadets to go over
to the Middle East they would want to bring in faculty that is
diverse in knowledge about the Middle East. They might need a
professor that knows the language, another might know the
geography, and another might teach cadets how the government is
run.

“How can we get a more diverse faculty?” Vila asked.

She also talked about needing a plan to attract students from
rural areas of the country to the academy, which includes reaching
out to parents.

“A diverse environment, a diverse Air Force is critical to the
mission,” Vila said.

Vila is talking to organizations in the public and private
sectors to see what has worked for them regarding diversity. The
academy’s plan will highlight the most effective programs,
eliminate the least effective and redeploy resources. It will also
measure the effectiveness of the programs and institute metrics to
hold senior leaders accountable.

“(The plan) has significance for tomorrow, but the importance is
it has significance long term,” Vila said.

Vila previously served as assistant secretary of administration
for the Department of Agriculture.

The board of visitors will meet again in May in Washington, D.C.
It meets quarterly, twice at the academy and twice in D.C., to
review morale and discipline, social climate, curriculum,
instruction, physical equipment, fiscal affairs, academic methods,
and other matters relating to the academy.